Cell type wood boxes



Dec. 23, 1958 F. D. FLEXON CELL TYPE woon BOXES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 21, 1956 INVENTOR rib/0 Z/TQ/V BY M 24 ATTORN s Dec. 23, 1958 F. D. FLEXON 2,855,526

CELL TYPE WOOD BOXES Filed March 21, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR 642/02 Fmm ATTORN 3 2,865,526 CELL TYPE WOOD BOXES 1 Floyd D. Flexon, Godfrey, Ill., assignor to Owens-Illinois Glass Company, a corporation of Ohio Application March 21, 1956, Serial No. 572,977 1 Claim. (Cl. 217-22) The present'invention relates to improvements in cell face .of each side walll3, five equally spaced parallel type wood boxes such, for example, as those widely used in the soft drink trade for delivering such merchandisc in bottles to the retailer.

It has been standard practice in the'trade to form and secure the cell or partition strips in wood boxes of the type herein involved, that if replacement of any or all of the strips should become necessary, considerable labor lS required and it is also probable that the box proper and perhaps theretoforeundamaged partition strips will be so mutilated in the process as to render the structure unfit for future use. Such arises in some instances from the fact that screws or nails are employed to secure the side and end walls to the adjacent ends of the partition strips. Alternatively metal strips or often bands are secured over the top edges of the box end walls to hold the ends of the partition strips in grooves that have been provided in the inner face of such end Walls. These metal strips are very securely nailed in place. Obviously, removal of such partition strips, irrespective of which method of attachment is employed, cannot be effected easily and, as stated above, may and very frequently does result in the explained serious mutilation of the box and quite often breaking some of the partition strips.

An object of my invention is the provision of simple and effective means whereby a full high partition assembly unit may be fitted into full height grooves in the end and side walls of wood cases in such fashion as to facilitate not only initial placement, but removal and replacement of such assembly units, all without any damage whatsoever to the wood case or partition strips.

Another object is the provision of a partition assembly in which the several strips are so interlocked that the entire unit will be removably yet securely mounted within the wood box incident to direct attachment or fastening of only one transverse partition strip to the box.

A further object of my invention is the provision of a readily removable partition assembly facilitating conversion of a standard size wood box or case for use in carrying, for example, either twenty-four soda bottles or, if desired, four conventional paper-bo-ard'bottle carriers, each of which contains six bottles.

Other objects will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a twenty-four cell wood box incorporating my invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary detail perspective view of the partition assembly unit positioned immediately above a portion of a wood box.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail perspective view showing the manner in which the locking center cross strip and one of the longitudinal partition strips are interlocked.

Fig. 4 is a perspective viewillustrating the manner in which the structure shown in Fig. 1 can be converted for the purpose of accommodating four conventional 2 paper-board bottle carriers, each of which will contain six bottles.

In that embodiment of my invention illustrated Figs. 1,2 and 3, the wood box or case '10 comprisesja rectangular bottom'll and upstanding interconnected end and side walls 12 and 13 respectively. Since this particular box is intended to accommodate twenty-four bottles and to that end includes twenty-four cells or pockets, the following structure is utilized. On the inner vertical grooves 14 are formed, each extending the full height of and opening through the upper and lower. margins of such walls. v inner side surface thereoffare three vertical grooves 15 such being spaced apart equally longitudinally of the wall and so. related to the side walls 13 and grooves 14 therein that a partition assembly'unit utilizing allof. the

grooves will provide the twenty-four cells mentioned above. Each end wall 12 may advantageously be pro. vided with a hand opening 16 to facilitate carryingthe, box or case; 3'

In the illustrated embodiment of the partition or I assembly unit 17 for the twenty-four cell box, itcome prises three longitudinal partition strips 18, the opposite-' ends of each of which are snugly received in'fpairs of. vertical grooves 15 in the end walls 12. Each ofthe se longitudinal strips is formed at uniformly spaced points with opposed pairs of shallow vertical grooves '19 or channels, the number of pairs being one less than the number of cross partitions 20 which will be utilized in producing the partition assembly unit. These grooves or channels 19 extend the full'height of the longitudinal partition strips 18. The cross partition strips'20 intersect the longitudinal strips at right angles and are of substantially greater height than the latter (Figs. 2' and 3). With the exception of the locking center strip which is disposed medially between the ends of the unit, these cross-strips are formed with verticalnotches 21 opening through their upper margins, these notches being of such Width that the walls thereof fit quite snugly into the opposed grooves, or channels 19. The depth of these notches is substantially equal to the height of the longitudinal partition strips 18 so that when the strips are fully interlocked, the upper surfaces will lie in substantially the same horizontal plane and, owing to the fact that the cross partitions are of the same height as the side and end walls of the box or case, the upper margins of said side walls will be substantially flush with the upper edges of all of the partition strips.

In order that the locking center partition strip may securely retain the entire unit in the wood box, it is provided with vertical notches 22 corresponding innumber to the longitudinal partition strips and opening downwardly through the lower edge. This notch formation together with registering vertical notches 23 opening through the upper edge of the longitudinal strips 18 result in such an assemblage that none of the remaining partition strips can be removed independently of the locking center strip. Opposed gro-oves'll9 at the lower end 'of the notches 23 serve to support the cross-strips duce a unit which can, with considerable case, be placed I in the wood box or case 10 and through the simple procedure of securing the clamps 24 in position, the'box and partition assembly .unit are effectively united. Re-

. Patented Dec. 23,195?

In each end wall 12, on ithe sea ma a v 3 v.

ino'val ofthe partition assembly unit for any reason whatsoever, involves merely bending of the clamps or fasteners'24 to separate them from the side walls 13, after whichthe. unit.i7 mayv be lifted out. of the box and repaired "as needed, or perhaps replaced in its entirety by a different cell assembly, such forexample, as that Shown in Fig. 4. In Fig. -4 I have illustrated a partition assembly-unit 24 comprising a single longitudinal strip 253mm a single transverse strip 26, both being of the height of-the box-walls. This essentially is the partition assembly unit shown in Fig. 1, but omitting two longitiidinal'partition strips and each of the endmost pairs of ewes strips so that each of the cells is" of precisely the dimensions necessary to conveniently accommodate a six' bottle paper-board carrier, such as those commonly FModificationsmaybe resorted to withinthe spirit and scope of the appended claim. 7

' I claim: rigid cell type open top bottle case Comprising a g'e'nerallyTecta'n'gular bottom, interconnected side and'end walls rising from the margin of said bottom and attached thereto, each end wall having a plurality of vertical grooves spaced uniformly along its inner face and opening through at least the upper margin. ofsaidwall, each side wall having 'a plurality oflongitudinally spaced vertical grooves-in its inner face-opening through at least the -upper margin of said wall, a partition assembly insertable'in and readily removable from the case as a unitf'and comprising a plurality of longitudinal vertical partition strips having their ends snugly fitted in the grooves in the end walls, each longitudinal strip provided remaining cross partition strips having vertical notches opening through their upper margins to accommodate the longitudinal partition strips, the latter notches being of a depth approximately equal to the width of the longitudinal partition strips and fastening means releasably anchoring the ends of said one cross partitioning, strip only 'to the side walls of the case.

'ReferencesCited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,871,482 Turner Aug. 16, 1932 2,005,272 Sliger June 18, 1935 2,588,824 Goldstein Mar. 11 1952.

FOREIGN PATENTS 4,952 Great Britain 1881 174,373

Great Britain 1923 

